Tuesday, June 20, 2006

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Jasmine is surely gonna become a supermodel!!!

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Our beautiful Jasmine is almost a month old now.

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Thursday, June 15, 2006

My uncle Francisco and me when I was a couple of days old.

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Thursday, June 08, 2006

During Labor: My due date was May 25, 2006 according to the ultrasound I had at 18 weeks. The actual due date according to my LMP was actually May 26, 2006 (a Friday). That Friday, I was with my little brother Jose at the Millenia Mall. We were eating at Johnny Rocket's and I started having mild contractions but they were five minutes apart. I told Jose:"If I go into labor, at least I'll have a full stomach." I told Jose that I wanted to go home and he agreed. We made it home and I laid down. That whole afternoon my contractions remained five minutes apart. We picked up my brother Victor from the airport because he was coming down from North Carolina. He wanted to surprise everybody so I helped him book a flight online and told him I would tell noone. We told my brother Jose that we had to pick up my friend Annette at the airport and he was all upset about it. Victor's flight got delayed from 5:40pm to 8:40pm due to a severe thunderstorm hitting Orlando. We ended up going to Hooters. I felt real sexy with all the skinny girl's asses hanging out and my big pregnant self amongst them. Had to have some hot wings just in case if it was false labor, it would sure kick start the real thing. When we were waiting for Victor to arrive, I called Dr. King and she told me to call her back when the contractions when 3-5 minutes apart and stronger than now. Mom came over and we were watching a movie when I decided to go to bed. I laid in bed feeling contraction after contraction and thinking "Is this is?" It was almost surreal. I started having contractions on my due date. Could I be any more in time? It seemed insane to me. I called the doctor from bed and she told me to go into the OB Triage in Florida Hospital South. I waited until mom left (I didn't want her to be nervous, and I would definetly call her if I got admitted, but I had a feeling I would be sent home. I've watched too many Baby Story and Birth Day shows on the Discovery Health Channel to know that if you are not dilated when you get there you are sent home.) On the way to the hospital, Steven and I were in absolute silence. It was not real, the drive to the hospital to have a baby. We pulled up to one of the garages and the attendant told us the quickest way to get to the OB Floor, but not before congratulating Steven on his wife having a baby. I think that's when it hit him. He had a big smile on his face as he put the car in reverse. We got out of the car and I told him I would kill him if he insisted on pushing me on a wheelchair. I walked over to the second floor and had to wait on the slowest secretary ever to ask us to fill out paperwork. I was called into a room and hooked up to a monitor. They checked for dilation and said I was only 1 cm. By this time it was about 2 am and I was exhausted. At around 4 am they told us that I had two options, get a sleeping pill and go home, or go walk around to see if I dilated some. I chose to go home. The sleeping pill started working before I even made it home. I was occasionally woken up by contractions but I slept fairly well. I woke up around 10 am Saturday morning, had some cereal, and started watching the clock. My contractions had slowed down. I was a big sad, after all, my induction wasn't scheduled until Tuesday night and I was very anxious to get the baby out of me. I immediately got dressed, put my sneakers on, and asked Steven to come take a walk with me. I started having stronger contractions about five minutes into my walk. We walked for about an hour, and when I made it home, I called my mom to come over for a BBQ. She made it to my house about three hours later with Victor. We had a nice BBQ and the contractions never stopped that afternoon. That night, again, after mom left, I told Steven it was time to go to the hospital; this time maybe it was for real. Once we got to the hospital, we had to wait for the same stupid nurse to attend to us. This time, we waited a big longer than the day before. I started crying with every contraction which scared me a bit because I knew the pain was just STARTING to get bad. There was no telling how bad it was gonna get. Once I was put back on the monitor and was checked for dilation, I was disappointed to find out I was still not dilated, but this time, the pain was bad, so there was no way I was gonna let them send me home with a little sleeping pill again. Again, I had two choices, go home and wait it out OR stay in the hospital and walk around for TWO HOURS. I almost had a heart attack when they said two hours, plus, where was I gonna walk at? Not like there was anything to see!!!! They told us to go walk up and down the same hallway over and over again. We improvised a bit and even got a security guard to tell us we couldn't be walking around a certain area. After two hours of walking, we went back to be checked and they told me my cervix hadn't changed. I almost cried. The nurse said that she would plead my case with Dr. King to admit me because contractions are supposed to last 30 seconds to one minute, but my contractions were about two minutes long, which was unusual. I got some Stadol to take the edge off of the pain and when I started getting sleepy, I told Steven to go to the car and to try to get some sleep there, at least until we knew what Dr. King was gonna say. Apparently, Dr. King's husband is a reverend and she doesn't like to induce anybody on Sundays. It was 7 am when Dr. King finally walked into my room. Thankfully, I was right in the midst of a full blown contraction and she was able to see the pain. She checked my cervix and said I was 1-2 cm dilated and that she would go ahead and break my water. Steven squeezed my hand so hard when he heard those news. I think he was happier than me.
I was taken to another room and told to change into one of those naked back gowns. I was given some more Stadol because I wanted to wait to get my epidural until the pain got REALLY REALLY BAD. Dr King came in and broke my water and saw meconium. GREAT, I thought. Just my luck! I must have fallen asleep for about an hour or two and I must have started to dilate some. By then, mom had made it to the hospital. She was so nervous. Even though I was drowsy, I did notice her nervousness. She came over and kissed me and I fell right back asleep. Next thing I knew, the contractions started waking me up, but the medicine was so strong that I would have a two minute contraction, I would scream, and between the contractions I would fall asleep again. The incredible Incredible INCREDIBLE pain must have lasted about 45 minutes when I finally decided on the epidural. It took the anesthesiologist 30 minutes to get there. Victor and Jose had made to the hospital finally at the peak of my pains. With each contraction, I could hear laughter in the room. During one of my contractions, I was screaming so hard that Victor said, we don't need a doctor, we need an exorcist. By this time, my patience was completely gone. I said:"I'd appreciate it if you guys left." And so they did. The anesthesiologist came into the room, and I said:"Please make this the fastest placement you've ever done." My epidural was in me about 5 minutes later. The pain was gone within two contractions. I fell asleep immediately. I woke up whenever the MALE NURSE came in to check my cervix. After a while, my dignity went out the door and I opened my legs to whoever asked it. NO SHAME!
The last time I was checked I was 6cm. I had to sense of time because I just slept and slept and then slept some more. At one point, I opened my eyes and Steven was able to take some pictures. At another point, I opened my eyes and noticed that both mom and Steven were sitting down eating lunch or dinner or whatever it was. You'd think I'd be upset, and even Steven, when he saw me looking at them eat, started apologizing profusely. I wasnt worried about food at this point. I fell asleep again. At 5:00pm, I woke up and I felt tremendous pressure along with the urge to push. The Discovery Health Channel shows taught me that it's time. I had Steven call the nurse in to check my dilation and when he came in he asked me if I was ready to push. I was really nervous but very happy that it was finally time to start pushing. He went out of the room to call Dr. King. He came back in to tell us we had to wait 40 minutes for the doctor to drive to the hospital. The nurse wanted to see if I knew how to push. He immediately asked me to stop pushing because with just one push he could already see the head. He asked Steven if he wanted to see the head and he said ok. The nurse brought in a mirror for me to see the head and I was able to kind of see it. Its not what I expected to see. I fell asleep, believe it or not AT 10CM. I still think that's crazy. I woke up at 5:40pm (the 40 minutes had gone by and still no doctor). My mom was going nuts (I have the video to prove it). At 5:45pm, the doctor walked into the room. She said:"Let's see some practice pushes." The nurse screamed:"Nooo, you can already see the head. This baby is coming out with only a couple of pushes." That scared me a bit. The nurse got all gowned up and Respiratory came in because of the meconium. Mom was to my left and Steven to my right. I started pushing with every contraction. Jasmine was born on May 28, 2006 at 6pm.






My mom and her cell phone never parted ways throughout the whole labor process. Too funny!!!

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When she came out I was totally shocked. I cried, mom cried, Steven cried. It was one big CRY FEST. I could see the therapist and the nurse working on Jasmine from my bed. I was very anxious for them to finish already so I could hold her. They weighed her (7lbs 8oz) and measured her (20").

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Our first family pictures:

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First couple of pictures of our daughter, fresh out the womb!!!

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